Nineteen 7th graders, three mothers & a teacher board the snub-nosed Blue Bird school busy early on a Tuesday for a two-hour trip to Honors Festival (now called "contest"), the highest level of choir competition in South Arkansas.
At the edge of town, we turn south onto Highway 35, a winding state road to Sheridan.
around a curve
the petrified old store with
green curtain backdrop
Close to the fences, bushy pines stretch branches to passersby like caged animals begging. Further back, shrouded crowds of slender trunks reach up for sun's sustenance, green only at the tops. Dogwoods spatter shadowy trunks with winter white; holly bushes brighten the somberness.
two-lane
curves through timberland
many shades of green
Neat homes with barns and gardens break up the miles of trees. In one yard, wood is already cut to fireplace lengths--a stack of parquetry curing for next winter.
wisteria still
dormant in weathered frame
redbud shattering
At Sheridan, we turn east. The browns and grays of oak, elm and gum are flecked with chartreuse tints of hackberry, fuchsia of redbud, pink of peach, apricot of early maples. Orange-red saw briars cling to lower branches, as if jealous of the new growth.
fractured deer stand
above the burned field
new ochre buds
We pass a Christmas-tree farm. Further on, a pine tree, trimmed from the highwire right-of-way, stands, an ancient bonsai giant. Furrows of freshly plowed garden spots stand ankle deep in rainwater.
greening pasture
school bus carcass
behind the feed shed
A two-story house rises from the woods, the cleared brush used as fencing. A Cotton Belt train car now hawks used trucks.
Out of Pine Bluff, a large white sign reads: PENITENTARY AREA/BEWARE OF HITCHHIKERS
prisoner
of driver's Country Music station
haiku hitchhiking
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c 2023 by Pat Laster, Benton AR USA
